


The Only Living Alien in New York

by Peasantaries



Category: Venom (Comics), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Affection, Codependency, Cuddling & Snuggling, Cultural Differences, Developing Relationship, Fluff and Humor, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Genderqueer Character, Loneliness, Mutual Pining, Other, Romantic Comedy, Tentacles, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-29 17:27:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16268954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peasantaries/pseuds/Peasantaries
Summary: Eddie has been alone for … let’s just say asubstantialamount of time.Okay, alright,yes, it’s all his fault he’s alone, but he’s a warrior of justice and a little bit of an arse, so add those things to the mix of a journalist and you’ll get … a mistake, most likely.But that’s why he knows when he’s not.In which Eddie Brock takes on San Fran, Alien Symbiote takes on his heart, and everyone learns a little more about human anatomy.





	The Only Living Alien in New York

**Author's Note:**

> * _shows up three months later with impending essay deadlines, an overpriced frappuccino, and a new ship _* may I offer you some symbrock in these trying times?__
> 
> Tile comes from Simon and Garfunkel's, “The Only Living Boy In New York.” Story contains spoilers for the movie; more info in the end notes <3

Eddie has been alone for … let’s just say a _substantial_ amount of time.

Okay, alright, _yes_ , it’s all his fault he’s alone, but he’s a warrior of justice and a little bit of an arse, so add those things to the mix of a journalist and you’ll get … a mistake, most likely.

But it’s hardly _intentional_ it’s his all fault.

Eddie doesn’t like to think too much about it.

But being alone. He’s good at it, tick. He knows how to accept it, make the most out of it, distract himself with movies and meditation and with any luck, he doesn’t feel alone at all.

With meditation, sometimes Eddie doesn’t even feel like a _person_. He feels connected to everything around him, everyone around him: the nature, the people, the smells in the air, the voices and laughter, until it’s a though he’s not a body, but a spirit drifting between everything. Cheesy, but true.

With movies. Well.

They just make Eddie feel like he’s not alone.

Yes, Eddie admits to enjoying the occasional rom-com from time to time, and so what? Sue him.

Sometimes they’re _funnier_ than the comedies, but maybe that’s just because he can relate more to the spurned, mid-twenties female, feeling as if her life is slipping from her grasp and her internal clock is ticking ever closer to Cat Lady, than he can a twenty-something male with his whack-job roommate, looking for sex on a night out that goes spectacularly wrong.

Yup.

Eddie wasn’t lying; he’s watched a lot of movies.

So. That feeling of being alone (and he wouldn’t call it _loneliness_ per se, because in his mind those are two pretty distinct things and he can tell the difference, it hasn’t been _that long_ since he’s had human contact, he sees the lady in the 24-hour store and the other lady that sleeps outside his apartment block and — getting away from the point), he’s familiar with it.

And that’s why he knows when he’s _not_.

When he comes back after the fuck-up that is the visit to the lab and the man-hunt afterwards, he’s sweating and shivering but his whole entire _being_ is _alive_ and **_awake_** and **_FUCKING HELL_** he’s  HUNGRY where the **FUCK** is all the  ** _FOOD?_**

He guzzles three packets of tater-tots, unfortunately throws them up, is still hungry, guzzles whatever the hell’s in the trash, (unsurprisingly) throws that up, is on his twelfth glass of water before his bladder screams in protest and only manages to make it to the bathroom before he pisses himself.

Eddie feels rattled, shaken and revved-up. That’s until he realises he _is_ rattling: his entire body is one quivering, trembling mass of limbs, a gaggle of motion all spinning in front of his eyes, and it’s as he splashes his face with water, wills his head to stop _pounding_ and his eyes to stop blurring, that he glances up and – well.

That’s not his reflection.

It grins.

Eddie whips back, a high-pitched, Homer-esque shriek escaping his lips.

He stumbles, flails on something loose – his shower curtain? A towel he forgot to pick up? – and supposes he must black out, because there’s not really a way for him to tell.

He wakes groggy, bleary-eyed, with a throbbing pain in the base of his skull and still that simmering energy underneath his skin.

He rubs at his head, hisses at the pain, but not a second after doing that does the small lump suddenly recede into his skull: does the pain wash away with a cool wave of balmy relief.

He blinks.

 _Okay_.

Eddie won’t lie, a lot of things have gone weirdly tonight, so he just chalks this up to some impact injury that only lasts a few seconds before he scrambles out of – is it the bath? Did he actually fall and pass out in his own bathtub? Can you get more pathetic?

He gets up, straightens himself out, and is about to go in search of more food before it hits him.

The lab. The weird experiments. The people all lying in glass prisons – his friend that sleeps outside his apartment! _Oh God_ , the photos, he has to show someone, he has to help them, he has to show _Anne,_ she’ll understand, she’ll see it wasn’t all for nothing and that he was _right_ –

“Shit, ohshitohcrap, I need to show– Ihave _togo_ –”

Eddie’s halfway to his door before he feels a strange yank in his gut, a jolt that brings him to a halt, and then a voice wells up from some pit inside him and states:

**_No._ **

Eddie looks down at himself.

Did that just come from _him?_

Did he just say that? Did he speak without _realising_ he spoke?

“Oh God, you’re going crazy.” Eddie whispers.

**_No._ **

Eddie whips around in a circle, blinking wildly, because – because there’s someone _here_.

It feels as if there’s a presence in his tiny apartment, and Eddie’s had a lack of that for long enough now to know the difference.

“Hello?” He tries.

**_Idiot._ **

Eddie’s eyes stop blinking in order to widen in shock. “Excuse me?”

**_I said Idiot._ **

**_Are you also an imbecile as well?_ **

“Pretty sure those two are the same thing.” Eddie states. If he’s going crazy, he might as well go all-in and correct himself.

There’s a pause.

Eddie waits.

There’s still that strange, all-too-overwhelming sense of _presence_ , as if there’s breath on the nape of his neck, a warm body-heat radiating across to him.

Eddie can’t place it, doesn’t understand it. Unless something _invisible_ has suddenly sneaked into his apartment. But try explaining that to anyone and not sound crazy.

There’s a pause, as if a breath. And then:

**_You are right. They are the same._ **

Eddie tries not to feel satisfied. “Yah, well. Thanks.”

**_My understanding of an imbecile was that they were slow._ **

“I think that’s the meaning of an idiot as well.” Eddie frowns.

Yes. He’s really stood here discussing the meaning of idiot.

**_But that makes no sense._ **

**_The man in the laboratory called many people idiots, and they were much smarter than you._ **

“Hey!” Eddie shouts, wounded, before he blinks. “Wait. The _lab?”_

**_Yes. Where I entered you._ **

“Oh God.” Eddie staggers back, abruptly sick to the pit of his stomach. “Oh no. You’re _inside_ me, aren’t you? You're the thing _killing_ people.”

**_Please do not feel nauseous. It upsets me._ **

_“You!_ It upsets _you!”_ Eddie bellows, furious. “You just – _enter_ me! _Without asking_ , I might add,” Eddie waves a finger in the air, then remembers it’s inside him and points toward his stomach, “And _you’re_ upset!”

**_Yes. Do not shout. I do not like it._ **

“I’ll shout if I damn well _please!_ You didn’t even _ask_ , didn’t even bother to tell me you had entered me – didn’t even bother to tell me what you _are_ , in fact, and you’re all upset because I’m asking questions and feeling a bit _sick?”_

There’s nothing.

Eddie waits, chest moving as he pants from his outburst, but nothing comes.

It’s not like the wait he’d experienced before, where he realises it had probably been … _thinking_. It was still there, simmering just out of reach, warm and alive and _underneath him._

No. This is a deliberate, cold silence.

He can barely feel it, even though he knows it there, knows how to look for it now. It’s a small, curled mass in the centre of his chest.

Almost as if some figure is stood with their back facing him, a clear and distinct sign of hurt, Eddie would take a guess to say the thing’s … _in a huff._

“Oh, come on.”

Nothing.

Eddie sighs. “Right. I’ve lowered my voice. Happy?”

Still nothing.

“Or do you want me to go on and storm the lab?”

Something shoots out his back, thick and hot, and then he’s plastered to the wall.

“Oh, _very good!”_ Eddie shouts, throws his hands up where he’s not welded to his apartment.

Then suddenly his arms are gone too, more hot ropes amassing from his skin and binding his wrists above his head.

Eddie grits his teeth. And he won’t do it. It’s a thing and it _entered_ him and honestly it’s being very _rude_ right now and –

“Fine.” Eddie grits out. “Sorry.”

Warmth floods back, starts from his centre and seeps across his whole body, drips into his lungs and heart until that energy is simmering underneath him again, but it’s not uncomfortable or foreign.

It’s merely as if he’s woken up, refreshed and ready for the day, after a long, long life of being asleep.

Eddie, reflexively, finds himself grinning. He quickly stops when he realises, though.

 ** _Hello Eddie._** The voice begins, just as satisfied. ** _I am Venom._**

“Charmed.” Eddie replies, and then – “Wait, _Venom?_ That doesn’t sound particularly healthy.”

Suddenly, as soon as those words are out, Eddie’s arm is thrown back against the hard brick of his wall.

 _“Ow!”_ Eddie cries, cradles his wounded hand close to his chest, sees one of the fingers is strangely bent. Broken.

“The **_fuck_** –!” He booms, ready to start a damn war, until, the same as in the bathroom, a cooling sensation steals over his whole arm, washes away the pain in a gentle wave. Eddie hears the distinct crack of bone snapping into place, until.

Huh. Eddie flexes his fingers.

There’s a rush of strength, power he didn’t feel before.

It’s as if he could smash anything.

So Eddie tries it. Turns around and raises a fist to the wall, aims a punch just before black webbing flows from his knuckles, wraps around his hand like a glove, and slams his blow into the wall so hard it rips a crack in the bricking, makes a shower of dust appear around them.

“Well.” Eddie starts, grinning. “Seems you’re good for something.”

‘Venom’ seems to almost purr inside his chest, a slow, steady pleasure slipping through his veins like a drug. Eddie basks in the rush, realises that making the thing happy makes _Eddie_ happy.

 ** _Oh, Eddie Brock,_** Venom croons, **_You have no idea._**

Eddie, confused, almost feels it’s a reply to his thoughts, before he realises Venom’s only replying to his statement about it being useful.

“Great!” Eddie starts, gleeful as a child. “Then we can take the pictures to the press –”

Eddie finds himself plastered again.

“Wh –”

**_No. Too dangerous. Many people get hurt. Eddie might get hurt._ **

“That makes no sense!” Eddie cries. “You just showed me what we can do! You could easily protect me! We could fight them off!”

**_No. They know how to make us leave our host. I haven’t met a host like Eddie, he is too complete a match to lose._ **

“Thanks.” Eddie chimes in sarcastically.

**_It is a compliment. Our biologies are in perfect symbiosis. I would surely die if I left you._ **

“Why does that sound like some rom-com line?” Eddie muses, more to himself.

**_Rom-com?_ **

“It’s nothing, continue.” Eddie hastens.

 ** _We would need to be prepared. It will not be easy. We cannot act hastily_**.

Eddie thinks. “Okay. I know who to call.”

**_Good. Also I like this term._ **

“Hmm?” Eddie blinks, confused.

 ** _We,_** Venom replies, with that same curling sensation of pleasure low in his belly.

*

It’s as Eddie is walking toward said peace and justice that he’s stopped by the voice from within (or whatever people call it, because to say ‘the voice inside his head’ is just … _bad)._

**_Eddie._ **

Eddie stops short, looks around the dank alleyway they’ve just entered, and catches sight of something on the window of a parked car.

“Oh.” He states. “Is that us?”

The figure, looking like something out of Donnie Darko with its teeth nearly spilling over the edges of its mouth and its wide, white eyes pulling up towards the back of its head, seems solemn and almost … _shy_ , as it gazes reproachfully at Eddie, waiting for a response.

“Right.” Eddie starts. “I actually, don’t really know what I expected – _wait!_ You’re the thing in my reflection!” Eddie gapes.

The figure grins slow, all its teeth appearing.

“Is this what my reflection is always gonna look like?” Eddie asks, perturbed. “Because I think that might freak some people out.”

Venom shakes their head.

**_No. Only when I want._ **

And then Eddie’s reflection melts back to the one he’s known since birth.

Eddie relaxes a little. “Right then. Let’s go.”

 

*

So in the end, after all is said and done and they saved the earth from it’s sure and untimely demise, Eddie … sort of gets used to the symbiote living inside him.

Of course, there were a few speed-bumps along the way.

 _“WHAT?”_ Eddie screeched, after doctor-fucking-Dan kindly informed him that the symbiote was causing him massive organ failure.

**_Eddie, Eddie do not listen, it’s not true, the results –_ **

“I can’t believe this! Shut up! You’ve been lying this whole time!” Eddie felt something he’d probably never felt in his entire life – _betrayal_.

In the journalism industry, he was used to back-stabbing, and most of the time it was expected. In fact, usually it only acted to confirm his suspicions.

Sometimes it was a welcome relief that he hadn’t been a dick to someone for nothing.

He always kept one foot out the grave, always had preparations in place in case a source fell through, a reporter or publication decided to steal his work again.

But this.

No.

Eddie had **_trusted_** his symbiote, completely, utterly, with no back-up, all feet submerged.

He’d implicitly expected the same.

**_Eddie, please –_ **

“Fuck this! Fuck _you!”_ Eddie cried, clawed at his chest, then suddenly there was noise and it was making Eddie’s teeth rattle, it was _tearing him apart_ , until just as abruptly he actually _was_ torn apart.

Something flew from him as the cold emptiness he’d experienced only weeks ago flooded back inside.

Anne and Dan sealed the door to the MRI-room shut and Eddie watched the small, squirming mass of black sludge immediately press itself to the glass.

A helplessness swarmed him while it simultaneously felt as if he were falling mid-air with no harness, watching his symbiote writhe helplessly in search of him.

“No, that’s it.” Eddie hissed right up at the glass, voice cracking. “We’re _finished_. We’re **_done_**.”

He stormed out the hospital before anyone could see the wetness gathering around his eyes.

And then he got fucking _captured_ or whatever, not that Eddie much gave a fuck, in fact he tried to make light of the whole situation because _hey,_ he’d be dead soon and who even cared? Venom certainly hadn’t.

That was, until he saw a dark figure moving in the trees, and Eddie knew who it was.

He knew Venom had come for him.

And then Venom was storming right up, a fire in their eyes that Eddie honestly couldn’t say he’d ever seen before, and their mouth was on his and it sparked a blaze bright enough to _burn_ inside him.

Eddie could only grip back at the warm, smooth flesh, at bulky muscle underneath his hands while a tongue slithered in and out of his mouth, around his jaw and chin, making Eddie weak-kneed and light-headed because _by God_ it felt good, warm and wet and perfect.

That was, until his neck was forced to tilt downwards, as bulky muscle melted away into something slim and familiar, and Eddie gaped as he held his ex-girlfriend in his arms, and Anne gaped back.

Eddie felt the moment Venom entered him again: relished in the warm, welcome feeling as they slipped down his throat to burrow inside his chest.

Until suddenly his head was a gaggle of noise.

**_Eddie the MRI results become distorted because I cannot handle such high-frequency waves, therefore I react by trying to destroy them and it gives a false reading –_ **

“Yeah, yeah.” Eddie grumped, rolled his eyes to distract from his flushed cheeks. “I kinda figured, on the way over here and all, that you most likely weren’t trying to kill your host if it meant you’d end up dead too.”

**_Yes. That would be disadvantageous._ **

Eddie snorted.

**_And also cruel._ **

Eddie blinked, lifted a delicate brow. “So you’re all concerned about what’s _cruel_ now? Didn’t seem too bothered when you bit that guy’s head off.”

**_Not the same. Not you. You’re my host._ **

Eddie frowned. “I’m not sure I follow, big guy.”

**_On my planet, I was outcast for wanting to bond with our hosts, be nice to them and –_ **

“This is your version of _nice?”_ Eddie barked, waved around at the entire situation.

**_Eddie, I highly doubt you would enjoy my planet if you feel I have been unkind._ **

Although the words were bitingly sarcastic, Eddie could still sense the warm undercurrent of amusement in them, the ripple of laughter.

He realised, with a start, that he was feeling Venom’s _emotions_.

“I don’t suppose I would.” Eddie replied, just as amused.

“Can we get going?” Anne asked, ruffled and confused.

“Oh! Yeah.” Eddie nodded. Saving the world and all.

*

So. A few speedbumps they got past.

But that’s not to say they still don’t experience the occasional chink in the armour, as well.

Somedays Eddie will wake up, and he’ll forget all about his symbiote, and he’ll feel that same, encroaching loneliness start to creep into the corners of his vision, until there’s a quiet, almost nervous, **_Eddie?_** And Eddie will remember, and relief will course through him as he breathes out a gust of wind.

But then, of course. There’s the very small, very slight – almost tiny, really – issue of never having any goddamn _personal space_.

“I mean, I’m not so much asking you to like, _leave_ my body as just – like –”

 ** _Disappear?_** Venom asks, dripping with sarcasm.

“NO!” Eddie shouts, far louder than needed. His symbiote seems to sense it too, a small shockwave of surprise ripping through them both.

“Sorry. I just – I don’t want you to leave.” Eddie states.

And it’s true. It’s the truest thing Eddie’s ever said.

He wouldn’t want Venom to leave him, not even for a minute.

He can imagine people might find it infuriating, _maddening_ : they might even go crazy with the constant presence, the stream of additional thoughts added onto their own, but instead, Eddie revels in it.

He loves the fact that even when he’s alone, he’s _not_ alone. He loves the idea that he could speak at any point of any time in his life and he’ll be met with an answer, even in the wee hours of the morning.

He loves the fact he shares a body with another being, and so the issues of trying to understand what someone is thinking or feeling in a relationship never really arises – he feels anger when Venom’s angry, happiness when Venom’s happy, and it’s so easy.

It’s perfect.

But sometimes, certain … _other_ thoughts are best kept – well, private.

**_If you would simply tell me what it is you want, Eddie, I’d probably be able to help._ **

“No.” Eddie grumbles.

Not that the symbiote couldn’t help. No, the very problem is that Eddie _knows_ the symbiote could help, but in no universe is he about to voice that.

**_Eddie._ **

Venom materialises out of his chest, floats in a black globular mass above and around him before solidifying into the shape Eddie knows is their true face.

 ** _I can transform into anything,_** Venom states, eyes narrowed.

As to illustrate this, Venom begins a complex, lightning-fast display of all the various things they can change into: a key, an insect, a book, a phone, all the objects they turn into losing that black-sludge sheen and fully materialising into the real thing – taking on the appearance of metal, of plastic, of anything.

 ** _See?_** Venom states, once they’ve seeped back underneath Eddie’s skin.

“Hey. I wanna see you.” Eddie protests, childish.

Venom slinks back out: wispy black tendrils escaping Eddie’s chest before amalgamating into the alien he’s grown so fond of, eyes downcast in that all-too-familiar tell of shyness.

Sometimes Eddie wonders if Venom snuck some tips online while Eddie was asleep, possibly entitled ‘how to appear innocent and adorable’.

“This isn’t about you, love.” Eddie murmurs, the endearment something that’s also all-too-familiar, resisting the urge to reach out and caress the black flesh. “It’s … _private_.”

 ** _But we have nothing private between us,_** Venom replies sulkily, voice reverberating slightly around the room because they’re outside Eddie’s skin.

Although Eddie loves when his symbiote is inside him and he can feel their emotions like quickfire spreading through him – their conversations turning nonverbal sometimes when Venom only has to flash a thought to him and Eddie can flash one back – he also loves seeing the symbiote in front of him, hearing the physical proof of their reality, their large, sonorous voice filling up his small living space.

“Hmm, yah, I dunno about that one.” Eddie tries to lighten the mood with a half-hearted chuckle, but his symbiote still sulks, not meeting his eyes.

“Of course there’s nothing private.” Eddie tries, voice softening. “Not between us.”

 ** _But you want space._** Again, Venom huffs, a slight grumble to the end of their words.

“No, I don’t.” Eddie sighs, realising this conversation is pointless as they keep going back around in circles, Eddie unwilling to admit the truth and Venom unwilling to give up. “Let’s just forget it for now.”

And his symbiote, thankfully, knows when Eddie’s too tired and too stubborn to resolve something.

*

Eddie can’t forget it.

However much he tries, it inevitably pops into his head, and then –

**_Eddie, your pulse has quickened. What has happened?_ **

God _damnit_.

“I told you no contact while I’m in the shower!” Eddie cries, covering his bits despite the fact he’s essentially covering them from _himself_.

A swell of annoyance flashes through him.

**_I told you, I have not looked and will not look, and also do not understand why I can’t._ **

“And I’m telling you, _humans_ are different from intergalactic organism-aliens, and we _care_ about who we show our bits to!”

**_Bits?_ **

“Our – naked bodies!” Eddie cries.

Eddie feels a presence above his shoulder, the nape of his neck prickling, and whips around just in time to see the symbiote melt back into his spine.

“Hey!” Eddie roars.

 ** _Are naked bodies different from regular bodies?_** Venom only asks, childlike curiosity in the question.

Eddie sighs. “Yes. It’s when we’re not wearing any clothes. It’s just our skin.”

The curiosity tenfolds, a sharp stirring in the base of his gut. **_Can I see?_**

“No! That’s the whole point!” Eddie’s cheeks are flushed hot despite the cold water currently spitting out his crappy shower-head

 ** _Your pulse is very fast and your heartrate is elevated. This is something that means a lot to you_** , Venom replies.

“Yes, it does, so that’s why I want you to respect my wishes and not look!”

**_If it means a lot to you, then it means a lot to me._ **

“That’s! Not how that works!” Eddie splutters, surprised they even found that loophole. “It means a lot to me that you _don’t_ look.”

There only response is resounding silence, a cold, dejected feeling in the very centre of his chest.

Eddie sighs. “I didn’t mean it – like that. I just mean, how would you feel if I saw your … genitals?” He bites the word out with sheer force.

There’s only mild confusion once again. **_Genitals?_**

God, Eddie is really going to have to explain this. “You know, your private parts.”

**_I have no private parts._ **

Eddie huffs. “Come on, how on earth do you –” And then he stops, realising that in all the time his symbiote has lived inside him, they haven’t needed to perform the normal, basic functions of emptying their bladder and bowel.

“You … don’t have any, do you?” Eddie realises slowly.

**_That is what I said._ **

“Then wha – how, what – I mean, how do you _reproduce?”_

**_It depends on our mate of choice. Between my kind, we reproduce asexually._ **

Eddie blinks, mindless of the water dripping into his face. “You mean, like … flowers?” He tries.

**_Precisely. That is the most accurate description of it._ **

Eddie feverishly attempts to remember high-school biology.

“So you really – _don’t_ … mind.” Eddie realises, voice trailing off. “And all this is … pretty confusing for you.”

**_Thank you._ **

Eddie abruptly feels guilty.

While he’s been desperately trying to conceal the growing – _problem_ that only seems to be getting worse, the symbiote’s been blindly left in the dark.

“I’m sorry.” Eddie sighs.

**_Does this mean I can see now?_ **

“No!” Eddie shouts sharply. He feels more than sees Venom slink back inside him again.

“I mean it, love.” He tries, softer. “I feel really strongly about this. I need some privacy.”

**_I need none. I can’t understand how you don’t feel the same._ **

“Humans are different!” Eddie throws his hands up, and, finally resigned to not getting a proper wash, _ever_ , steps out the shower and wraps a towel around his midriff. “This matters to us, whether aliens can under – woah!”

Too bust talking, Eddie apparently forgets he’s walking across wet tiles, and nearly slips and falls backwards until –

Gentle and probing, a small tendril balances his back like a tail, while another slips underneath his foot and encases it like a waterproof sock, more tendrils doing the same to his opposite foot.

“Thanks.” Eddie sighs, guilt churning away at his gut. His symbiote says nothing, which only makes Eddie feel worse.

Damn tyke probably knows it.

It’s only once he’s dressed and dried, lounging around on the sofa and flicking through possible movies, that his curiosity can no longer be contained, and bursts out in an unsubtle explosion:

“So you’ve never, like, orgasmed?” Eddie blurts in a rush.

There’s nothing.

Then Venom slides out Eddie’s skin until their whole body, complete with feet, hands, legs and arms, is sitting alongside Eddie on the couch, the only point of contact their pressed shoulders as Venom turns to him.

There’s always a point of contact. Venom can’t exist without him of course, but more than that, they’re both just so used to touching.

Eddie tries to conceal his complete and utter shock.

He’s only ever seen Venom like this in the thick of battle, but only ever via first-person, too preoccupied and crazed to fully take note of his symbiote’s features as they flash in and out of his periphery.

The most Eddie’s ever been able to catalogue are the huge, webbed hands in front of him, before they melt and merge into another weapon.

Most of the time, Venom doesn’t _want_ Eddie to see them.

They lurk over his shoulder when they’re in the privacy of their own home, but they always dash away when Eddie turns his head. Any other time, Venom remains inside Eddie’s chest, safe and snug expect for a stray tentacle aiding and abetting any of Eddie’s errands.

So to see everything right now, all those huge, hulking black muscles, Venom’s bare chest and thighs, their rippling mass and barely contained strength, is … _distracting._

To say the least.

 ** _This is what has been bothering you,_** Venom states with absolute finality, their gaze intent.

Eddie feels himself heat from his toes upwards, not helped by Venom sat beside him, but doesn’t have a hope in _hell_ of repressing it. “Well, _yah_ , I mean I just – I wondered –” He splutters.

 ** _There is something more,_** Venom persists, eyes narrowing as they peer into Eddie’s face.

“There’s nothing more!” Eddie cries, a little hysterically. “I just meant, you can turn into anything, surely you can make some – _genitals!”_

 ** _Your fascination for genitals confuses me, Eddie._** Venom replies, a light note of frustration in their deep voice, despite the hilarity of that statement. ** _Do they serve some higher function other than reproduction and waste removal?_**

Eddie scrubs a hand over his face. “Yes! Yes, love. Okay? I’ll admit it. When humans reproduce, it feels – good. _Really_ good, and we enjoy it. And it also feels good to … _practise_ reproducing, so. There. Sometimes I want to do those things, but I can’t.”

His cheeks might as well be steaming at this point, and Eddie hangs his head, shamed.

 ** _Why not?_** Venom sounds appalled, a growl rumbling their words. **_If you enjoy it, then surely I will._**

“Probably.” Eddie chuckles, trying furiously to shake the mental image because he doesn’t _need it_ right now. “But it’s also .. private. Ugh, this is so damn hard to explain!” Eddie throws his head back and sighs, looking for the answer from the high heavens.

He feels Venom shift closer, curious.

**_I can make human genitals. I have seen various genitals from your internet history._ **

“What! That must have been from _ages_ –” Eddie cries, about to start ranting, before Venom holds out a spread palm, and out pops a penis.

Eddie stares for a long, long time.

“I can’t unsee it.” He states. “I just … can’t unsee.”

 ** _Does that help?_** Venom asks hopefully, their white eyes wide and searching. And then, before Eddie can even reply, a dozen or so dicks begin sprouting from their arm.

“What – _no!”_ Eddie shouts, waving two hands frantically. “They’re not genitals! They’re all in the wrong place and it’s not – it doesn’t matter if they don’t _feel_ like genitals!”

 ** _I don’t understand._** Venom frowns. **_Are they not genitals?_**

“No! I – look.” Eddie blows out a breath, utterly defeated. “Okay. I’ll show you what I mean and then you have to _drop_ it.”

Venom waits, evidently familiar with the phrase _drop it._

Eddie steels himself, inhales deeply, and reaches down under the waistband of his pants to grip his half-hard cock.

The resulting shockwave of pleasure that rips through them both is a testament to how long it’s been since Eddie did this but also, how much Eddie’s been thinking about it, trying to push it down and away, that creeping thought that _maybe with his symbiote if he tried it, they might make it feel better than before, they might use_ – but he quickly squashes that down, not wanting to take advantage of Venom if they barely know what any of it means. The significance of the act. 

Because Eddie knows what it means. But humans and aliens are different, and Venom _can’t_ want the same thing as Eddie does.

Eddie gives himself a little squeeze, resists the itch to spread his legs wider, shuck off his shorts and go to town, then takes his hand out.

“See?”

Venom’s black skin is back to normal, their shoulders hunched as they stare with wide, hungry eyes, mouth slightly agape, tongue flickering in and out in that snakelike way it does, tasting the air.

**_Do again._ **

Eddie’s cheeks are as hot as the _sun_ as he flushes. “I – it was just to show –”

Familiar black tendrils snake around his wrist, pull his hand back underneath his waistband and to his full-on erection, makes fingers close around it and grip it tight.

Eddie groans, heartbeat thudding in his chest from this smallest action. “Venom, love – ”

 ** _This is what you have wanted,_** Venom confirms, pushing closer to Eddie, smooth, heat-warm skin pressing against Eddie’s and making soft, short noises huff out of Eddie’s mouth as his thighs really do fall apart.

 ** _This is what you crave,_** Venom uncovers, pick-pick- _picks_ at Eddie’s thoughts until they all crumble away, and Eddie can’t help the torrent of images and fantasies that flood from him,

– _the symbiote pressing Eddie to the length of his bed, bearing down weight upon him as thick, black tendrils hold down his ankles, his wrists, slip between his legs and –_

“Ah!” Eddie shouts as a rush of hot, molten desire rockets through him, his symbiote purring through their shared connection.

**_I like. I want._ **

“Are – are you sure, love, I – you don’t have to –” Eddie pants, helplessly bucking up, his body betraying him even as he tries to assure his symbiote he won’t take advantage of them.

 ** _Advantage?_** Venom echoes, confused, and God they really _can_ hear Eddie’s thoughts. **_Eddie, your wishes are mine. Your pleasure is mine. I feel the sensations as you do. I want them as you do. You are mine._**

Eddie’s thighs start to tremble as Venom cups Eddie’s hand around his erection, holding, waiting, not moving.

“You – you do?” Eddie gasps, anticipation unfurling low in his gut.

 ** _Yes._** Venom confirms, lets their emotions seep into the shared bond between them and shows Eddie how hot, eager want boils inside the symbiote.

 ** _I have never felt this_** , Venom admits in a small, quiet whisper, ** _I want it._**

“You – you never –” Eddie pants, barely coherent, unable to process the fact his symbiote has never experienced this kind of pleasure while also trying to regain some control.

Venom doesn’t answer, only begins an exploration of Eddie’s body.

Thin, whispery tendrils sneak across Eddie’s chest, down the collar of his t-shirt to stroke delicate touches across his pecs, his stomach, gauging his sensory response and finding Eddie’s nipples the most sensitive.

Eddie represses a cry as more writhing, coiling tentacles descend underneath Eddie’s shorts, run along the downy hairs of Eddie’s thighs and burying themselves in the thatch of his pubic hair, making sparks of sensation race up Eddie’s spine.

 ** _This is what you have wanted_** , Venom realises, but it’s different to before, breathy and wondrous.

“Yes,” Eddie breathes back, unable to stop himself.

 _Yes_ , this is what he’s wanted, what he’s thought about and tried to hide – the growing fondness for his symbiote never seemed to be an issue until it snuck into the late hours of the night, while Eddie was stroking along a stray, soft mass of shifting black glop running through his fingers, tickling up his arms, and he thought about how much he wanted to feel _more_ of his symbiote, how he wanted to feel all of them pressed to Eddie, how the pleasure would only be doubled if they both experienced it, how _he wanted more._

Shameful, dirtied thoughts began to creep inside Eddie until they all but consumed him, and any innocent, small gesture of affection from his symbiote brought on a cacophony of fantasies – thoughts of flesh-on-flesh and Venom’s drool all over the sheets, all over _him_.

But that wasn’t their bond, that wasn’t the _deal_ – they’d agreed at the start they would help each other out as long as they were mutually beneficial to one another: Eddie would act as Venom’s host while Venom made Eddie stronger, but Eddie didn’t want that anymore, he wanted to be Venom’s partner, their _lover_ , and God wasn’t the biggest loser alive to want to be boyfriends with an _alien?_

 ** _No,_** Venom murmurs close to Eddie’s ear as their tentacles continue their tender investigation. **_Not a loser. Want the same._**

“But how –” Eddie gasps, still unable to fully allow this while niggling doubt eats at him. “How can I know you want this – ‘cause _you_ want it, not ‘cause you _think_ you do, cause me wanting it means you feel like you want it? Christ!” Eddie shouts in frustration, making no sense, but maybe some of his emotions slip in there too, because Venom presses ever closer to Eddie, that smooth, rubbery texture of their skin sliding against Eddie’s hot flesh until the symbiote is sat in Eddie’s lap, legs bracketing each side of Eddie’s waist and eyes boring down into him.

 ** _No,_** Venom murmurs, breath gusting out softly, their arms caging Eddie into the couch. ** _I understand difference._**

Despite the various tentacles brushing along him, caressing and stroking, Eddie somehow still manages to raise his eyebrows.

“How?” Eddie challenges, though it’s more a croak.

 ** _I wanted to know, if my emotion would become yours, or yours become mine,_** Venom carries on, **_But Eddie being sad makes me sad. Eddie being happy makes me happy._**

 ** _I am not happy because Eddie is; Eddie being happy makes me happy,_** Venom explains.

Eddie shudders in a breath, blinking away the wetness gathering at his eyes, but Venom continues.

**_This I feel, the same as I feel when Eddie falls and injures us, or burns us on the toaster. It hurts me too. That’s why I smack._ **

Eddie chuckles a wet laugh.

 ** _I feel your pleasure as mine, I feel my touch against your skin while I also feel your skin underneath me,_** Venom rumbles.

Eddie tries to supresses his trembling.

 ** _But I do not feel your wishes as mine,_** Venom tells him. ** _Sometimes I want to bite heads, but mostly Eddie does not._**

Eddie really does laugh this time, shaking his head as his hands run up and over his symbiote’s back.

**_Maybe on very rare occasions Eddie will bring up biting heads first, but not often._ **

Eddie throws his head back, laughing high and wild. “Name _when?”_

**_That time with the interviewee who sneered when you told her about same-sex marriage legalisation, that time –_ **

“Okay, okay!” Eddie shouts. “I get it, okay, you’re right.”

 ** _Exactly,_** Venom states. ** _So when I tell you I want what you want, this is because I do, Eddie._**

Eddie glances up, looks into those wide, hopeful eyes.

“Yes?” Eddie whispers, daring to hope.

 ** _Yes._** Venom growls.

Eddie reaches up in a flash and grips his symbiote’s face, mashing their mouths together at an awkward angle but it doesn’t matter, because Venom opens up for him, teeth blunt and unforceful as their tongue laves at Eddie’s, slithers around his chin and licks at his gums.

It’s just like before in the woods when Eddie thought he was done for but it’s _better_ , because he knows Venom wants this, wants it just as much as he does, and Eddie can lavish as much attention as he wishes in the comfort of his own home, can stroke along all of Venom’s body and revel in the sensations he can distantly feel inside their bond, the positive feedback loop creating waves upon waves of pleasure.

That is, until Venom refocuses their attention on Eddie’s weeping, neglected cock, all tentacles sneaking down and wrapping around his member, somehow already slick and smooth as they tighten their hold around him.

 _“Ah!”_ Eddie shouts, hips arching up, only it’s muffled against his symbiote’s open mouth, Venom’s webbed hands moving from the sides of the couch to cup Eddie’s face, chest rumbling.

 ** _Mmm_** , Venom echoes. **_How long have you wanted this, Eddie?_**

“ _Nngh_ – weeks, months – I don’t – _hah_ – ” That last noise because the tentacles around him abruptly twist upwards along his shaft, pulling the foreskin just the way he likes.

 ** _Why have we not been doing this for weeks and months, then?_** Venom growls, a rumble that Eddie feels on his mouth.

Eddie shakes his head, spreading his legs as far as they’ll go in the confines of his shorts. “I just – didn’t want to pressure –”

Venom responds by melting both their legs into Eddie’s shorts and ripping them off, using their tentacles to fling the two shredded pieces in opposite directions of the room.

Eddie’s eyes are blown wide, dilated almost black. “Wow.”

Venom grins their familiar, satisfied grin. **_You were saying?_**

And Eddie can’t help but laugh again: can’t remember laughing this much before he found Venom, can’t imagine laughing this much if he never had.

Until Venom melts a tentacle into Eddie’s shirt, rips that off too, and then Eddie’s totally, utterly stark naked.

He feels that same heat that always come to his face whenever he steps into a shower, sure that his symbiote can _see_ despite always assuring Eddie they don’t look.

But Venom doesn’t act as though they’ve seen Eddie like this before.

Their eyes rove over Eddie’s frame, the freckles dusting the tops of his shoulders, the fuzz of hair trailing down to his groin, his fully erect prick stood to attention.

 ** _This is what you meant?_** Venom asks, not quite a question, more of a statement.

Eddie can only nod, shy and nervous in the face of his exposure, as though his soul is on display as well as his skin.

Venom uses a thin tendril to tip Eddie’s chin around and up to meet their gaze. And then they kiss Eddie, with tongue and teeth and all the repressed feelings Eddie can almost taste.

Eddie kisses back, vulnerable to the slight chill now without any clothes, but all the more aware of the heat coming off his symbiote, the way their weight bears down, presses Eddie to the couch.

 ** _Cold?_** Venom asks. **_I’ll fix that._**

And then Venom is melting into Eddie’s skin, covering him the way they do before a fight, only there’s no enemy to battle, just Venom webbing themselves around Eddie’s frame in a way they never have before.

They don’t simply take control of Eddie within a protective barrier, a bubble Eddie only floats inside, but wind around Eddie’s thighs, his arms, acting like ropes that bind Eddie to the sofa, using no pressure or force, only an unbreakable hold as soft as silk.

Eddie moans when he realises he can’t move, when he knows he’s completely at the mercy of his symbiote, even as other tentacles arise from Venom’s full body-bind and tickle along Eddie’s bare chest, his legs, the soles of his feet.

“Ah, love, I can’t –” Eddie gasps, writhing and twisting.

 ** _Shh,_** Venom murmurs, the voice both outside and inside Eddie, and God that just makes him shake _more_.

Until Venom’s head floats up out of Eddie’s chest, the webbing coming apart to form their loved face, complete with wickedly grinning mouth, tongue lolling almost lazily.

 ** _I want to do this_** , Venom whispers, the tip of their tongue stroking along Eddie’s cheek as Eddie tips his head back, mouth open in a continuous stream of moans.

And in a flash, as soon as Eddie thinks of better uses for that tongue, Venom is moving, mouth trailing wetly down Eddie’s chest and toward the end goal.

Eddie parts his legs easily, imagining the sensation, anticipation almost like a _rocket_ set to go off inside him –

Until Venom hovers just inches above his cock, curled flat against his navel in wait. Eddie shudders in an inhale as Venom breathes a hot gust of air over the head of his prick, scarlet-red in arousal.

Then, teasing and slow, Venom’s sinuous tongue licks at Eddie’s hip, only a flicker of sensation, as slippery tendrils rise from the bonds around Eddie and, almost like tiny creeping fingers, brush up against Eddie’s balls, his hole.

“Ah!” Eddie shouts, and – in fear of his symbiote mistaking his surprise for any kind of displeasure – tries to shove as much pleasure and eagerness into the bond simmering between them as possible.

 ** _Mmm,_** Venom groans in response, the black mass trembling all around him like a stereo turned to blasting volume. **_I feel it. I want it._**

“ _I_ want it.” Eddie echoes in a croak, pulls his heels up to his arse-cheeks so he can spread his knees wide as possible.

 ** _What a pretty picture,_** Venom replies in a hoarse chuckle, but Eddie can hear the effect this is having on them, the pleasure they’re experiencing from both giving Eddie pleasure and feeling Eddie’s pleasure creating an endless, mind-numbing loop of sensation.

“Yeah?” Eddie breathes, grinning almost as wicked as his symbiote. “What you gon’ do?”

Venom growls, deep and low, and then fastens the binds tighter around Eddie before finally, _finally,_ taking Eddie into their mouth.

Eddie cries out, spine arching almost painfully as the bliss rolls across him in waves.

He realises, realistically, that Venom should be awful at this, their teeth making the act near impossible, and yet those are precisely the thing that makes it _better_ – Eddie feels the sharp points of them against his pubic bone while Venom’s tongue wraps around Eddie’s prick in a sinuous, sinful glove, and Eddie can’t restrain himself any longer.

He bucks high, thrusting up into his symbiote’s mouth with wild abandon, but instead of spluttering and pulling away with a glare (Eddie has a track record of being a little passionate in the act of lovemaking unfortunately), his Venom only seems to _relish_ in it, experiencing the pleasure Eddie gets from the act and encouraging it further, pressing down until they’re engulfing Eddie’s entire cock.

Eddie near _screams_ , his long withheld desire to do this with his symbiote, to be as close as lovers are, to bond in the one way they haven’t, mingling with the incredible reality of it _happening_ – coupled with the fact Eddie’s experiencing the gratification of _two_ and not one, the symbiote’s pleasure becoming his own while Eddie’s becomes the symbiote’s – making it intense enough for anyone pass out.

As it stands, Eddie’s last remaining control is kept solely for trying not to faint that he doesn’t have any willpower left: he fucks up into Venom’s open mouth in animalistic fervour, hands coming free of their binds momentarily to hold his symbiote’s face down, relish in the burn of their teeth cutting into his flesh as colours erupt behind his eyelids, stars and galaxies and supernovas.

When they come, it’s strong enough to shake the whole apartment.

Eddie feels it build like a great tsunami in the pit of his gut, bursting to get free, until it spills out of him in a huge, roaring wave, flooding him again and again and _again_.

Venom makes a noise that can only be described as _inhuman_ : a thunderous, prolonged cry like some wild, savage beast, echoing around Eddie and creating vibrations along his prick, still inside their mouth, that only makes the pleasure tenfold.

Once they’re finished, sated and sweaty, Venom rests atop Eddie’s gently rising and falling chest, the black mass of gloop sliding between his fingers as if they need time to regain their elasticity.

“ _That’s_ an orgasm, love.” Eddie chuckles.

 ** _I understand your fascination with genitals now,_** Venom replies. **_I never knew they could do that._**

Eddie laughs his high, happy laugh, the one specially reserved for his sharp, witty, silver-tongued symbiote.

“Yah, lotsa’ things they can do, darling.” He replies.

Venom forms above him, a smiling mouth first, before their amused, crinkled eyes. **_Just as well you have one for the both of us._**

And Eddie hums a laugh, shakes his head. After a while they’ll move, and Eddie will carry his symbiote gently to their bed, resting inside his chest while they insist they’re **_not tired, just comfortable there._**

And Eddie will only laugh.

Sometimes he’ll wake up during the night and roll into a thick, muscular, eight-foot alien, who will wrap arms around him and lull him back into unconsciousness, and other times he’ll wake with an empty bed save for a few tentacles wrapped around his fingers in sleep.

Most days Eddie will step outside in search of justice, write up articles and broadcast them to the entire world on live TV, while a voice gently encourages him from the confines of his head, and other days he’ll run errands and carry out tasks like shopping and laundry while a floating head comments from over his shoulder.

But the entire time, Eddie isn't – not even once, not even for a mere millisecond – alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for the movie consist of the early and middle section, although I changed it up a little by making it venom kissing Eddie all along, courtesy of [this tweet ](https://twitter.com/artroan_/status/1049118315291889664). Also the love-making is mostly inspired by [ this](http://vaguelybad.tumblr.com/post/178821769998/just-gotta-get-this-out-of-my-system), I don't make the rules.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! And if you enjoyed, or have any feedback, feel free to pop it in a comment. I love knowing what people thought! I appreciate constructive criticism too :)
> 
> I'm also Peasantaries on [Tumblr](https://peasantaries.tumblr.com/), [ Twitter](https://twitter.com/peasantaries), [ Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/peasantaries/) and now [ Pillowfort ](https://www.pillowfort.io/peasantaries)! Come over and talk to me! I'll never bite <33
> 
> If you want to find ways to support me, you can find them there! (*^▽^*)( ﾉ^ω^)ﾉﾟ


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